In terms of skill set, Anura Ranasinghe was a multi-dimensional player – he could bat in the lower middle order and was a capable bowler who could dole out medium pace as well as finger spin according to the needs of the pitch. That said, he was an under-achiever both for Sri Lanka and in First-class cricket. Predominantly a batsman who could bowl a bit, he never produced the numbers to justify this tag barring the odd sparkle which was too rare in his career. He started off in ODIs, during the inaugural World Cup in 1975 and made his Test debut seven years later but only played a couple of games in the longest format. Even his ODI career was quite short and Anura made headlines by being part of the rebel Sri Lankan side that toured South Africa in 1985-86. The entire squad faced life bans which were eventually lifted and Anura spent a fair amount of time in club cricket before taking up coaching assignments. He was about to turn 42 when he shockingly passed away in 1998.

Written by Hariprasad Sadanandan